Theatre and Politics in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland: Applied Theatre, Social Change, and Political Advocacy

Edited by Dónall Mac Cathmhaoill:
Mac Cathmhaoill introduces the reader to the few years preceding the Good Friday Agreement context of Northern Ireland, and the phenomena of theatre-as-cross-community youth work, which was prevalent, as were many arts and exchange projects, funded by Europe and the USA in Northern Ireland at this time. As a teenager in Northern Ireland in the mid-nineties, I was a participant in these community exchanges. For many peers, it would have been the first time they met people from ‘the other side’. It was work that had support both within and outside the conflict, seen to many as fostering links for the next generation that were based on shared experiences and not as fraught with the ‘tyranny of small differences’, which some saw as oxygen for the flame of conflict. As an art form that supposes direct levels of dialogue and can involve participation and co-production, Mac Cathmhaoill argues that advocacy theatre possesses a critical role in creating cultural discourse, especially in regions dealing with current conflict or its legacy, he names this strain of theatre ‘advocacy theatre,’ and classifies it based on political and cultural intent and dialogue, rather than on specific formal modes.